NEW DELHI: A 73-year-old man from Madurai in Tamil Nadu has approached the Supreme Court seeking a ban on the internet-based suicide game 'Blue Whale challenge' that has been linked to the deaths of several children worldwide.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud agreed to hear the matter on September 15, the plea filed by advocate N S Ponnaiah, seeking a direction to the Centre to ban the online game and spread awareness among the public about it.

"Till the date September 5, media reported that at least 200 people had committed suicide after playing the online Blue Whale game. Most of them are young children under the age group of 13, 14 and 15 years," the petition filed through C R Jaya Sukin said.

The petitioner said that the Madurai City Police had confirmed that a college student, who had committed suicide after playing the game, had forwarded it to over 150 friends.

The Delhi High Court had on August 22 sought the response of Facebook, Google and Yahoo on a plea to direct them to take down the links of Blue Whale challenge.